Tarouba (Trinidad and Tobago) former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower on Thursday termed the pitch for the T20 World Cup semi-final here as “dangerous” after Afghanistan suffered a nine-wicket defeat to South Africa.
On a difficult pitch with variable bounce and exaggerated seam movement, Afghanistan folded for just 56 in 11.5 overs for their lowest T20I total as South Africa reached their first World Cup final.
While Flower backed Afghanistan's decision to bat after winning the toss, he said it was impossible for batsmen to measure bounce on the surface.
“You can't blame Afghanistan for doing what they did in the draw. They had an excellent record of batting first and then defending with a very good varied attack,” Flower told ESPNCricinfo.
“But batting first was a really difficult task. “You didn’t know what a good score would be and they were just blown away.”
“A couple of balls flew along, about shoulder, neck and chin height of the fast South Africans and one of them flew over Quinton de Kock, the head and gloves of the keeper during four frees. I was glad no one was hurt,” Flower said.
Flower, who coaches the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL, said images of the pitch revealed cracks and blocks that produced a "wild variation in bounce".
“You saw some interesting visual shots from above the plaza and a couple of commenters made reference to this being a completely new release. Maybe they could have used a pitch that had already been used before,” he said.
“Those shots showed that crazy pavement effect and those blocks and the cracks produced this wild variation in the rebound. As a hitter, you try to predict where the ball will be. You want to find it somewhere near the middle of the bat, at least.”
“(But) in this field, it was almost impossible to do that consistently. I thought he was actually a bit dangerous,” the former England manager said.
Former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody said batting on that Brian Lara Stadium pitch was “a very difficult challenge to combat”.
“I don't think you want to see him in any game, to be honest with you. You want fair competition between bat and ball and I am not advocating that we need to have surfaces where more than 200 runs are needed,” he said.
"But you need consistent bounce, that's the most important thing, (and) any hitter would throw their hands up and say, that's the most important thing."
"If you have a ball that hits the tip of your bat or one that you feel like you're going to hit with your gloves to the same length, it's a very difficult challenge to combat," he added.
Moody noted the presence of thick grass near the cracks in the field that caused an invariable bounce on the surface.
“You see, this type of crazy pavement, if you could put it that way, where a lot of dense grass was building up around those cracks, you could say that's what promoted the inconsistency of the bounce,” he said.
"It will be something they will reflect on, if they haven't already, and think, well, we made a mistake," Moody added.
On a difficult pitch with variable bounce and exaggerated seam movement, Afghanistan folded for just 56 in 11.5 overs for their lowest T20I total as South Africa reached their first World Cup final.
While Flower backed Afghanistan's decision to bat after winning the toss, he said it was impossible for batsmen to measure bounce on the surface.
“You can't blame Afghanistan for doing what they did in the draw. They had an excellent record of batting first and then defending with a very good varied attack,” Flower told ESPNCricinfo.
“But batting first was a really difficult task. “You didn’t know what a good score would be and they were just blown away.”
“A couple of balls flew along, about shoulder, neck and chin height of the fast South Africans and one of them flew over Quinton de Kock, the head and gloves of the keeper during four frees. I was glad no one was hurt,” Flower said.
Flower, who coaches the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL, said images of the pitch revealed cracks and blocks that produced a "wild variation in bounce".
“You saw some interesting visual shots from above the plaza and a couple of commenters made reference to this being a completely new release. Maybe they could have used a pitch that had already been used before,” he said.
“Those shots showed that crazy pavement effect and those blocks and the cracks produced this wild variation in the rebound. As a hitter, you try to predict where the ball will be. You want to find it somewhere near the middle of the bat, at least.”
“(But) in this field, it was almost impossible to do that consistently. I thought he was actually a bit dangerous,” the former England manager said.
Former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody said batting on that Brian Lara Stadium pitch was “a very difficult challenge to combat”.
“I don't think you want to see him in any game, to be honest with you. You want fair competition between bat and ball and I am not advocating that we need to have surfaces where more than 200 runs are needed,” he said.
"But you need consistent bounce, that's the most important thing, (and) any hitter would throw their hands up and say, that's the most important thing."
"If you have a ball that hits the tip of your bat or one that you feel like you're going to hit with your gloves to the same length, it's a very difficult challenge to combat," he added.
Moody noted the presence of thick grass near the cracks in the field that caused an invariable bounce on the surface.
“You see, this type of crazy pavement, if you could put it that way, where a lot of dense grass was building up around those cracks, you could say that's what promoted the inconsistency of the bounce,” he said.
"It will be something they will reflect on, if they haven't already, and think, well, we made a mistake," Moody added.
